The Legend of Dragoon: Third Wave
by Chez-Dragoon
Summary: Thousands of years after Dart and co. put down 108th species, a new wave of Dragoons realize that Soa still has a few tricks up his sleeve.
1. Chapter 1

The Legend of Dragoon:

The Third Wave

Chapter 1

Charlene

"You must be Charlene," Christopher said as a young woman entered his office.

"Yes, I am," Charlene responded "nice to meet you, Christopher," she said as she shook his hand

Christopher stood up to shake Charlene's hand "please," he said "call me Chris." He gestured towards one of the seats "make yourself at home."

Charlene sat down and took a deep breath, she came to meet Christopher for an interview for a teaching spot that had opened up at the Black Castle Institute, or B.C.I for short. B.C.I was without doubt one of the most prestigious places to study in all of Endiness – and Charlene was ready to take her career in history to the next level.

"So," Chris started, looking at some paperwork, "it looks like you specialize in history. Tell me about your qualifications."

"Gladly," Charlene said with a deep breath. "I did a lot of studying at the Denningrad National Library. Since then I've taken on two big research projects of my own. The first I did was a study of the Dragoon Legend and the second one, to make a long story short, a study of magic."

"Denningrad, eh?" Christopher started shuffling his papers "ah, yes, here it is." Christopher pulled out a copy of the certificate that stated that Charlene had indeed studied in the library and that she was knowledgeable enough to carry the blessing of the national library.

"By the way," Christopher said, holding up the certificate, "how does this work? Do they give these out to just anybody?"

Charlene started to feel intimidated, but she quickly regained her nerves. "No," she responded "You pick a specialization and then you basically read all the books in that field, and discuss them with various tutors and fellow students. You can present yourself to a board of librarians to be questioned on all the facts in your field either after 5 years of reading, or whenever you feel ready – whichever comes first. A lot of people tend to pick 2 fields to specialize in, I picked magic and history."

"I didn't realize they were that tough," Christopher said, seeming a bit surprised. "Well, let's move on, tell me about that research that you said you did."

"You want the full scoop?" Charlene asked.

"Sure, I've got time," Christopher replied.

"Alright," Charlene replied, "well, I know that a lot of history specialists probably tend to study the Dragoon legends in one way or another. But I've never seen anyone who has studied them like I have. You see, I didn't study the life of the dragoons, or where they travelled or the impact that they had on societies. I studied their death. I decided that I wanted to know when, where, how, and why each of the dragoons met their fate."

"Really?" Christopher said, "well…at least it's a fresh take." Once again, he seemed surprised, Charlene started to feel like she had the upper hand.

"Indeed." Charlene replied "I travelled all over Endiness, and found all kinds of artifacts and records and even new places and people. Once I had all of the data I needed, I plotted out on a calendar when each Dragoon died. To make a long story short, I found that all the Dragoons died within 108 days of each other."

"Interesting" Christopher said, "does the number 108 have any sort of significance?"

"Of course!" Charlene was a little surprised that Christopher didn't know. But she didn't plan on telling him. "I have all that information right here," Charlene took a bound book filled with copies of documents and put it on Christopher's desk. "That's pretty much it: my predictions, all the evidence I gathered, a synopsis of the evidence and conclusions."

"Wow…" Christopher opened up the book, which was about a foot and a half in length and width, and at least 6 inches thick. He had no intention of even reading the entire synopsis. "So…remind me why 108 is important." Christopher said, becoming a little confused as to the entire point of this research.

"I could teach an entire course on that," Charlene responded "it's quite a long story."

"And let's not forget," Christopher added, "the Dragoons are merely a legend. You take a lot of big "If's" when it comes to research."

Charlene didn't take Christopher's comment lightly "If you don't have any more questions on the Dragoons, I can move on to magic studies."

"I'd be delighted to hear something more concrete," Christopher replied.

"Well, let me put it this way, "Charlene started, "According to the math that I've done, Humans haven't always been able to use magic." Charlene caught a glimpse of surprise in Christopher's expression. "It's pretty difficult to determine an exact rate at which humans have been gaining magic power, but in my opinion it looks like the babies that are born every 108 years tend to have more magical aptitude."

"Yet another big stretch on the research," Christopher replied. "So you're telling me that every 108 years Humans become more powerful? How do you prove something like that?"

"It's a lot easier to see things in retrospect," Charlene said, pulling out a slightly less think book. "Here are all the same data on my magic studies."

"Alright," Christopher sighed, "I'll be honest, you don't see such a huge amount of off-the-wall research from historians every day."

"Thank you, Christopher," Charlene said.

"Call me Chris, I'm sure you know that here at B.C.I we not only instruct the mind, but the body. Can you teach students to use weapons and magic?"

"I believe that you are supposed to be the judge of that" Charlene smirked.

"That I am," Chris stood up "follow me to the sparing ring."

Chris led Charlene out of his office, and down the hallway. After passing many other offices they reached a flight of stairs and took started going down, eventually reaching a large open room that felt like it was built below the ground. In the middle of the room was a large circle, with the letters "B.C.I" inscribed in it. There was a small staff from the clinic waiting on the two to arrive.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting" Chris said to the clinicians, they nodded in return.

"Why are they here?" Charlene was kind of nervous that their sparring match would require medics, she didn't expect anything that intense.

"Don't worry," Chris seemed to know what she was thinking "they're just a precaution; luckily we've never had to use them."

Chris winked at the team and they smiled, which didn't help her nerves one bit.

Charlene wasn't new to the process of sparring, she had to fight off all kinds of danger during the time she spent traversing the world for her historical studies, and she had learned how to fight and use magic even before that. Both she and Chris came to the far side of the room and put on some light armor.

"Mind if I use my own weapon?" Charlene asked, not seeing any provided arms on the wall.

"Go for it," Chris replied "I was going to do the same."

Charlene followed Chris into the sparring ring, Chris stopped shortly after reaching the other side of the B.C.I letters. He turned around to Charlene and didn't see a weapon in her hand.

"Do you fight with your fists?" He asked, hoping that she would say "yes."

"No," Charlene said, reading Chris' saddened expression. "It seems you know where I like to keep my weapons" she chuckled.

Chris gave a small smile as he watched her wave her hand in the air. A small blue colored sphere appeared, floating above the palm of her hand. The sphere grew a bit until it was big enough for Charlene to fit her hand through. She reached for the sphere and put her hand through it. Charlene's hand didn't appear on the other side of the sphere, as expected. Rather, it diapered into the sphere. After a second, Charlene pulled her hand back out, equipped with a rapier that was glowing blue. Charlene looked over to Chris to see him performing a similar technique, only his spheres were colored red. With his right hand he was reaching into a smaller sphere, and pulled out a short sword. A sphere grew on his left hand, which quickly flattened out and started to spin outwards. Eventually the sphere growing circle solidified into a shield that looked like it was made from cooled magma.

"It's not every day that you fight someone with the magic to store items like that" Chris said as he watched the blue subside from Christine's blade.

"I should return the comment!" Charlene now knew why Chris didn't seem too happy about her not using her fists. It meant that she could use such strong magic to store her weapons. "This ought to be interesting!" Charlene said with a smile on her face.

Christopher gave a small chuckle in agreement and signaled over to someone in a corner that Charlene hadn't noticed. A light arose from the perimeter of the circle and then quickly faded away. Charlene wanted to ask what it was, but she quickly figured that it was probably a magic barrier to keep the outsiders safe.

"I only have 1 rule" Chris started, "I don't allow the use of magic crystals, I don't like people using magic that's not of their natural element."

"Understandable," Charlene replied. She didn't have any magic-altering crystals on her, and didn't plan on shooting anything other than ice at her opponent anyway.

When it became apparent that neither Chris nor Charlene had anything to say they both bowed to each other and lifted their weapons in fighting stance. From out of nowhere, a whistle was blown and Chris quickly made his way straight for Charlene. Charlene reacted quickly and jumped as high as she could. Chris rose his shield, expecting her to go for a kick in the face. Charlene took advantage of Chris' shield and made it her landing point. Chris immediately tried to stab Charlene's leg armor, but she managed to kick his blade out of the way. Charlene did a front flip off of the shield, charging up a blue mass in her left hand as she did so. When she was completely facing downwards, she extended her arm and shot a ball of blue magic straight towards the ground. Right upon hitting the ground the sphere broke and quickly materialized into a large mass of ice. Chris barely escaped the attack by making a few steps forward, and spinning around to see Charlene waiting for him on the other side of the mini-glacier.

Chris charged again, jumping over the ice structure. Chris made swing after swing, even using his shield for some attacks, but time and time again Charlene made it look too easy to duck under, sidestep, and parry every move he made. After several minutes, neither of the two seemed to be wearing out. Eventually Charlene decided to go on the offensive, Chris made a high, horizontal slash with his blade, and Charlene instinctively ducked under it. She saw that he was swinging his shield a bit lower than his sword, and in the opposite direction – to protect any openings that he may have. Regardless of the shield, Charlene saw that Chris' legs were open. In a quick, fluid movement Charlene shot a ball of ice at his legs. Charlene's magic hit 1 of Chris' legs and he stumbled back in pain. Quickly, Charlene switched her weapon from her right to her left hand, as Charlene rose back up, she flattened out her right and summoned an aura of blue magic around it. While Chris was still stumbling backwards, she came up and struck Chris' chest with all her might. He fell back in the air in a blast of ice, hitting the semi-melted glacier that Charlene had summoned earlier. Charlene quickly closed in on Chris and poked him in the chest with her rapier.

"That's it!" Someone called from outside the circle, "Chris has been hit 3 times! The match is over!"

Charlene looked for the origin of the voice, but only saw a crowd of people. The newly formed crowd made Charlene feel good about her performance.

"Ahh…" Chris moaned, still on the miniature glacier, "I have never lost any match…."

"Sorry," Charlene said, feeling kind of bad for showing him up. "It happens, sooner or later."

Chris' hand started to glow an intense red color, Charlene immediately went on guard - thinking that he wouldn't let the match end with him losing.

"For you…" Chris managed to say "it happens now!"

Chris' body was totally engulfed in a red light, almost blinding everyone in the room. When Charlene looked up she saw that Chris was wearing different armor, almost like that of the legendary Dragoons that she had studied. What she saw gave her mixed emotions.

"Ha!" She scoffed at Chris before he could make a move "for someone who doesn't believe in Dragoons, you sure do like to dress up as one! I see you couldn't get the wings included in your fancy armor."

"This…" Chris lifted up his arms, showing off his magical armor, "is as close to the legend as any human will ever get!"

Chris clearly wasn't in the mood for saying any more, for he charged her with at least double the speed that he had earlier. Chris swung his sword upwards, and Charlene was able to roll to the side just in time for him to miss her. Charlene quickly made a plan of action, and hit the ground with her fist. Several pillars of blue light emerged from the ground; all made of the same blue light as the sphere that produced Charlene's weapon. Charlene then ran straight into one of the nearest pillars, disappearing completely from the ring. Christopher made the mistake of going to the middle of the fighting ring, which was completely surrounded by the pillars Charlene made.

"C'mon now!" Chris said, "you can't hide forever! Come out and let me bea-"

Before Chris could finish, Charlene flew out of the pillar behind Chris, this time wielding a rapier in one hand and a large mace in the other. Chris turned around just in time to receive a powerful blow to the chest by Charlene's mace. He flew straight into one of the magical pillars, only to re-appear an instant later – per Charlene's plan – through the pillar that Charlene had popped out of. Luckily for her, Chris was already facing her – and Charlene simply held up her sword, allowing the center piece of Chris' chest plate to fall straight onto her blade. The center of his chest piece, which Charlene hadn't noticed was a green gem, shone brightly and shattered. Instantly, the rest of Chris' armor shattered and fell to the floor. The last thing that Chris saw was the magic wall being lowered, and a hoard of feet coming at him.

Charlene found herself at the clinic, in Chris' room with a hoard of pissed off faculty. For hours people had been pestering her about how she made a mistake in beating Chris like that, how she could have killed the head of magic studies – one of the most important people in the institution, and some people told her that they thought she was a Wingly, or had sold her soul to the devil, for her magic use was beyond anything they had ever seen. Some people admired her, though. Evidently nobody had beat Chris before, and some had respect for her skill in physical battle and in magic use. Finally, Chris started to stir in his bed.

"Ah…man! What happened…?" Chris woke up and started taking in his surroundings, he saw many familiar faces from the teachers and students, and then his eyes fell on Charlene.

Chris was being bombarded with voices that were asking him if he was O.K, if he wanted anything, if he wanted Charlene out of the room. Eventually he spoke over all of them, only wanting to speak with his sparring mate.

"ENOUGH!" Chris shouted, and everyone stopped immediately, blinking at him in surprise. "Charlene, I….I don't know what to say. I lost total control of my ego back there."

Charlene, who had been pushed back by Chris' worried colleagues, made her way up to his bed, "it's fine," she told him "happens to the best of us…I just have one question, abou-"

"The "Dragoon" armor, right?" Chris interjected, when he saw that Charlene nodded in agreement, he continued, "it's a recent invention of mine, just like we can use magic to store items, I simply use magic to store that armor. The metal that the armor is made out of seems to absorb magic, so the longer that armor stays in storage, the more efficient in blocking magic it becomes. Not only that, but it seems to be able to emit fire at my will."

Charlene chuckled at him "your version of Dragoon armor is pale in comparison to the real deal."

"You mean the fairy tale version?" Chris said jokingly, then added "I really shouldn't have done that. It was still a prototype, and I hadn't told anybody about it." He looked up at the rest of the people in the room, and saw the curiosity in their eyes. "I suppose I have to spill the beans about it in the next staff meeting."

The remainder of the crowd all agreed, and when a silence came over them, another person made their way to the front and confronted Charlene.

"I can't believe that you chose such a dangerous way to win that fight!" They said "You know he could have died, and I'm not so sold that I want someone who is as carefree with a blade as you around this school! Not to mention that strange magic that you pulled off was way beyond natural!"

"Sergio," Chris addressed the person who was ranting about Charlene "I think that, given that fact that Charlene is clearly more skilled than I in both blade and probably in magic, I would be an idiot not to give her that history-teacher opening. She may even take my job one day. I've never seen such quick thinking, and such power!"

Sergio grunted and left the room, the rest of the crowd – who clearly only wanted Charlene kicked out, followed him.

"That was Sergio," Chris told Charlene "our best student. Ironically he studies history, so you'll probably get to see him a lot"

"Great…" Charlene said, looking at the door. "Well, Chris, I think I lost control as well back there. I'm sorry that I had to put you into this position."

"Don't worry about it," he replied, chuckling he added, "it was part of the interview, remember?...oh, by the way, meet me in my office tomorrow, same time. We have paperwork to do"

Charlene smiled and bid Chris a quick recovery, leaving him to rest. She left the room, and found her way to the entrance of the building, Charlene had a lot of mixed emotions – she felt like she should have just let Chris win the sparring match, and she wasn't too pleased with the demonization that she received. Charlene exited the clinic and looked around the campus known as B.C.I. From her point of view, she could see most of the buildings. Black Castle Institute was rightfully named, for 2,000 years ago it served as the castle of a man named Emperor Doel. To this day most of the original castle was intact, and additional buildings were modeled after the original architecture. Charlene saw that the original castle itself was where all the research took place, and the various towers that she thought would contain sparring rings, libraries and probably many other things that she wouldn't expect. Charlene caught a glimpse of a tree line and saw that the leaves were turning brown for the autumn. She sighed and left to try and figure out how, and what, the hell she was going to teach her soon-to-be students.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Torma

Meanwhile, in the outskirts of the great northern city of Denningrad, a farmer named Torma just finished his chores for the day. Torma looked up at the sky, figuring that he had about an hour of daylight remaining. He went into a large wooden barn, grabbed an empty sac and a short sword he had stored there then headed for a part of an evergreen forest that adjacent to his farmland.

The forest, which most people simply referred to as "the evergreen forest," was a very peaceful place – although Torma brought his sword just in case. He had started walking for just a few minutes before he found what he was looking for: medicinal herbs. He dropped the sac and started gathering as many as he could, eventually filling up his entire sac. Torma walked briskly home, there was hardly any daylight left. Within minutes he was walking through his back door, and found his parents there preparing a vegetable stew for dinner.

"HEY!" Torma shouted, "what are you doing? You both should be in bed!"

"Don't be shouting at me, boy!" Torma's father scolded him.

"Neither of you are in any condition to be walking around, and you both know it! How are you even up? It must bring you both great pain."

"If it brought me _too_ much pain, I wouldn't be doing it" said Torma's father.

"Sweetie," Torma's mother started "what you have to understand is that we feel _so _useless in bed all day, and we'd both rather die than be completely useless."

"All right…" Torma gave in. He knew his parents were in bad condition, but he didn't want them to wish death upon themselves.

"Sit down and we'll finish up in the kitchen," she told him.

Torma sat down at a large wooden table that was in the corner of the kitchen, thinking about how much he didn't want his parents pushing themselves. For years, they had been told that they had some strange and fatal disease that the local doctor knew nothing about, although that never stopped his parents from their usual work. It wasn't until about a year ago that his parents started to feel pain in their muscles and joints from moving. From there it escalated, until now where just breathing sent a ripple of pain throughout their body. Now Torma's parents spend most of their days inside the house, doing simple tasks.

"Oh, by the way," Torma remembered his herbs "I was able to pick up some herbs before I came in." Torma went over to his sac and started clean off what he gathered.

"Ooh, you know those things never work" Torma's father moaned.

"Thanks, Torma" his mother weakly smiled.

"You don't think that they work?" Torma asked his dad

"Of course not! It's not logical…" his face shrunk in pain, then relaxed "it's not logical, how can you prescribe something…" another contortion "that's supposed to cure a mystery-disease?"

"It can't hurt anything, dear…" Torma's mother replied.

After a dinner filled with similar arguments and ranting, Torma's parents – to his relief - finally went to bed. After cleaning up, Torma sat out in front of the house, under a tree, quietly waiting for his parents to actually fall asleep. A few hours after dark, he went to the side of the house, and dug up a sword from underneath a pile of logs. He then lightly jogged to the city of Denningrad in the dead of night.

Torma, who wanted nothing more than to see his parents get better, had been making these secret trips to Denningrad for weeks, trying to get some extra cash in order to send his parents to Fueno – a city near the sea famous for its healing hot springs. He would pull second rate assassination gigs and do the dirty work of any mobster who would trust him. About 30 minutes after he left, Torma arrived at a bar where he met most of his clients. Bill, the bartender, and a very muscular man, greeted him as he walked in.

"Hey, kid." He said, getting Torma a drink. "How's your parents?"

"Dying. As usual." Torma said frankly, "know of anything going on?"

"Not tonight, kid," Bill told him, "I thinks that everyone is usin' Claire again for they jobs."

"She takes small jobs, too?"

"Dunno, most people who meet her usually leave the scene in a casket."

Torma grunted and went to sit by himself to finish his drink. He was starting to think that it was for the best that he wouldn't have to murder anybody tonight. Torma could hardly keep a cap on his sanity, knowing that he had killed exactly 8 strangers, and beat 16 more to a pulp just to send a message. The worst part for him was that he never knew what message he was sending, he just followed orders because it got him the gold. Torma could usually swallow his pride and think of Fueno, but not every night. He was just about to leave when a stranger, who was completely hidden in a long, hooded robe, sat down at his table with a thud.

"Need work?" He simply said

"Depends on what you want done" Torma glared at the darkness of the hood

"Two alley ways west of here, there is a man I want to get rid of." The stranger put a small sac of gold on the table "the down payment…" the stranger offered Torma a handful of the sac.

"Alright," Torma took the gold "I'll be back"

"Good…." the stranger's trailing voice sent chills down Torma's neck.

Torma rushed over to the alley that the Stranger indicated only to find emptiness. He looked around for a few minutes, searching for anybody hiding inside a barrel or something of the sort. When he found nothing, Torma waited. He waited for almost a full hour, and was ready to give up when he saw a young boy of about 15 enter the alley way, followed by the hooded man. As Torma came out of his hiding place, the hooded man whispered something into the young boy's ear. Torma could see a glisten in the boy's eye as the hooded man passed on his little secret.

"Yoouu!" The young boy shouted, grabbing a hidden sword as he did so, "you killed my brother!"

Torma noticed that the hooded man rushed over to a stack of barrels that was between himself and the boy, sitting down on them as if he were about to see a show unfold

"If it were daytime," Torma drew his own sword, "I would have offered you my sympathies. But it seems you have a vengeful blade…"

The boy rushed at Torma, holding his sword high in the air, the boy tried to bring the sword down on Torma's body, but Torma had jumped back, dodging the blow. The boy then ran at Torma again, swinging his blade upwards this time. Torma blocked the blow with his own sword, holding the young kid in that position for a second. While they were in that position, Torma brought his foot back behind the kids leg and kicked him to his knees. Torma took the boy's sword right out of his hand, and finished by kneeing the poor boy in the chin – causing the boy to fall on the floor, belly up.

"I know it's hard," Torma said with his foot on the kid's chest "but you have to swallow your pride and deal without your big brother…Revenge generates nothing…"

The young boy looked back up at Torma with great fear and hatred. Torma felt like he hadn't said the right thing to this boy whose life he ruined. Just for more gold for Fueno.

"It…it was nothing personal against your brother…" Torma said "I would have killed anybody that I was told to kill…it's a money thing. Your brother just happened to be the one I was asked to kill…"

After hearing Torma speak, the boy got a second wind and threw Torma's foot off his chest. He then got up as quickly as he could and once again ran at Torma with everything he had – this time with just his fists.

"It looks like you're going to have to kill him to get him off your back…" the hooded man interjected

Torma glared over at the sick figure that he was starting to despise, which left him open for a slight second. As a result Torma took a punch to the gut, falling back a step. Torma responded by bringing up the blade in his left hand, the boy raises his hands to guard his face and Torma's blade slit the boy's wrist. The boy let out a scream of pain. Torma knew that he only had minutes to get out of there, without thinking about what he was doing Torma slit the boy's throat and ran, only to be caught by the hooded man.

After being intercepted by the hooded man, the next thing Torma remembered was being in a foreign room alone with his mysterious new client.

"What just happened? Who are you?...And WHY did you WATCH the fight?" Torma felt a deep disgust against this man.

"I teleported us out of there…I am me, and I watched because I wanted to. Simple enough, right?"

"Teleportation?..." Torma had never heard of it "is that magic?"

"Yes, fairly advanced magic at that."

Torma grunted "well, I did as you asked. You owe me a remaining sum."

"That I do…" the faceless man walked up to Torma, and handed him a heavy sac of gold coins.

"This much…." Torma had never been so heavily paid "for….that…kid?..."

"It takes a lot of guts to kill someone like that. A young boy who wanted vengeance and you slit his throat like it was nothing! HA! You've _earned _it"

Torma felt sick to his stomach, but he quickly realized that he would now be able to send his parents to Fueno. Although he still felt like a monster.

"Unfortunately for you…" the man started "assassination isn't a business that you can get out of as easily as you can get into. You've killed 9 people, so that's _at least _9 vengeful swords waiting to cut your throat."

Torma's heart sank. He realized that he would have to disappear without a trace.

"Luckily for you, I think you'll soon be one of the best assassins in the city. I've been watching you" Torma's spine went cold "and I think you've got some real…_spunk_." The man saw that Torma was itching to get out of this place

"I have a job offer" the man went on "I'll supply you with cutting edge swords and armor, in addition to cash payment, if you'll continue to kill for me. And _ONLY ME._" The man saw Torma's mixed expression, seeing both denial and prospect "I know it's a big offer, so I'll give you a few days to think it over. But…wait too long, and I may key in some revenge seeking…characters…in on your location" the man laughed to himself.

"How do you know where I liv-"

"I like to know everything I can about someone before I consider taking them in as a personal assassin." the man interrupted.

Torma sighed, not liking his situation "will I only work at night?"

"Yes, of course…and" the man chose his words carefully "I believe that I'll be able to send your parents to Fueno, for an extended stay…"

Torma's face went white, he only talked to a select few people about his parents and as far as he knew none of them had ever seen this stranger around before.

"HOW….DO….YOU….-"

"Once again," the man interjected "I like to _really _know my clients" Torma thought he saw a grin past the dark hood.

"Fine" Torma sighed "Count me in…" he glared at the hooded man "…at least for now."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Magic 101

Charlene, who was teaching a magic course, entered a building that consisted purely of various styles of sparring rings. Eventually, she found the ring that she was supposed to be in for the day and found that the group which she would be teaching was made up of about 12 people – most of which she assumed would be new to magic completely.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone" Charlene announced as she entered the ring "I'm still learning my way around this place. I'm assuming that everyone here is more or less a beginner when it comes to magic use?"

Charlene continued when she saw everyone nod their head "alright…well…first things first. I'm sure that you have all heard of "magic crystals?"" Again, the class nodded. "Alright…" Charlene bowed her head in thought.

"So, the first thing everyone should know about magic is that magic manifests itself in 8 different "elements." These elements are: water, fire, earth, air, light, darkness, and thunder and something known as "non-elemental". As you might expect, water and fire are opposites, as are earth and air, and lightness and darkness. The Thunder and non-elemental magic, on the other hand, don't have opposites… you'll need to keep opposites in mind for later lessons. Everyone got that?"

Once again the class nodded and Charlene moved on

"The next thing you should probably know is about magic crystals." Charlene reached into a pouch and pulled out a tiny, transparent crystal. "These crystals have latent magic power within them; the nice thing about them is that you can cast any element of magic using a crystal. They also make magic a lot more accessible to beginners – seeing as they require very little training to use. One thing to keep in mind is that there is only so much power a crystal can generate, so the more powerful the spell, the more crystals you'll need – if you'll be using crystals."

Charlene looked at the students for any questions, as she did so a hand popped up in the back of the crowd – and she saw that it was Sergio from the other day. When she saw him, Charlene gestured for his question.

"So, one can choose which element is to be cast when one uses crystals?" Sergio asked

"Yes, it takes some training, but it can be quite handy" Charlene started, "this is mainly because each person can only naturally – that is without the use of crystals – cast 1 element of magic. My element is water, for example, so I can only cast water magic without the use of crystals, if I wanted to do anything with any other element, I'd have to have the sufficient amount of crystals handy."

What last few sentences of what Charlene said seemed to be of great interest to the class, and Charlene had a pretty good guess as to why

"I assume you all want to know what your natural elements are?"

Once again, a disciplined nod came from the entire class

"Alright…"Charlene said

She started to guide the entire class through a meditation process, asking them all to focus on nothing but themselves and whatever their idea of "nature" was. After several minutes of this mental imagery, Charlene asked each student to stretch their arms straight out in front of them, and face the palm of their hand away from their body. After this, she asked them to continue focusing on their imagery of nature, but she asked them to make it move. Make something happen in that image. Charlene's goal was that each student would imagine an environment of their element – mountains for earth, the sea for water, and so on. She also hoped that the action that they forced upon their image would also manifest itself somehow through the student's palms. To Charlene's surprise, it actually worked for most students! Although there were 2 students who hadn't managed to succeed in the exercise, all other students had successfully created a sphere of magic that floated in front of their palms.

"Great! Now open your eyes everyone, most of you have just found your elements!" Charlene watched as the students opened their eyes and saw what they had done. Most lost their focus and the magic diapered.

"I hope you remembered what color of magic you generated, because it has to do with your element. It's pretty obvious, but just to make sure everyone knows: red is fire, blue is water, gold is earth, green is air, white is light, black is darkness, and violet is thunder…looks like we have a pretty good mix of every element in here"

Charlene then decided to focus on the two students who did not initially achieve the goal of the meditation. After another meditation session, one student got it; however the other student – who happened to be Sergio –had yet to produce any magic. Charlene's had an effective, yet cruel solution to Sergio's problem. Charlene summoned a blue sphere, put her hand into it and pulled out a rapier – just like when she sparred with Chris. She then pointed the tip at Sergio and told him to "defend himself with magic only." Sergio promptly found it within himself to attack Charlene with his element, which turned out to be wind, as soon as Charlene charged at him.

"Good," Charlene said, "That's everyone! I think that we've made pretty good progress for today, make sure to practice the meditation exercise before we meet tomorrow and we'll look at elemental opposites and cancelling out of magic."

Charlene watched as the group of students left the sparring ring, and she even caught a few students glaring at her, some as if they thought she was going to kick their ass and others as if she didn't belong at B.C.I. Charlene, of course, had no intention of kicking any ass and she defiantly didn't understand the demonization that she had received – but she assumed it all went back to her fight with Chris. Charlene decided to go back to her office, which she had just been given, to finish unpacking all of her things.

A couple hours later, Charlene had finally finished unpacking. She sat down in a chair and reached into a hidden pocket of her clothing, pulling out a small, perfectly round blue stone. Charlene was very much aware of what the stone was. Charlene played with the stone, rolling it between her hands, for a few minutes before she was interrupted.

"Hey, girl!" A voice said, Charlene turned around to see Kim, one of her best friends.

"Hey!" Charlene quickly put away her stone and got up to greet Kim "thanks for the tip on the teaching opening here" Charlene said "I got the job, as you can see!"

"Ha! No problem!" Kim said, looking for what Charlene hid as she did so "hey, I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat?" Kim asked

"Done, I'm starving!"

Kim and Charlene made their way into Kansas, the city where B.C.I was located. Kansas was filled with students and magicians who studied at B.C.I, they could often be found in the streets studying or debating this or that; as well as talking to regular people of the city – sharing their ideas and listening to the denizens ideas. It didn't take too long for the pair to find a place to eat, they both ordered their food and sat down in a corner, out of the way of everyone else.

"So," Kim started "I hear you pulled some powerful magic against Chris"

"You hearing that explains all the looks I get…" Charlene replied

"Someone told me that you somehow summoned huge pillars of pure blue-magic and that you were able to transmigrate between the pillars." Kim said

"also known as teleportation, yes I did that" Charlene said

"I didn't know such a thing was possible!"Kim said "hooww?"

"You didn't know? Well…I guess it's more advanced than I thought."

"Well, nobody at _B.C.I_ could figure it out! Of _course _it's more advanced than you thought."

"I dunno, _somebody_ should be skilled enough to know it." Charlene chuckled at herself "otherwise B.C.I isn't as prestigious as I thought, I should head back to Denningrad!"

"No!" Kim pleaded "Don't!" she pulled out a glove from her back pocket. "Here," Kim offered it to Charlene "I made this for you as a welcoming present. It's a special glove I made, if you activate it at the same time that you cast any magic, it will turn that magic into it's opposite."

"Wait…" Charlene stopped her "so, this will allow me to cast fire based magic without crystals?"

"Yeah! Pretty cool, right?" Kim said

"How is it that you can make this glove," Charlene started "but you don't know about teleportation?"

"No fair! I'm an inventor! Not a magician!" Kim defended herself

"Is there really a difference?" Charlene asked

"Yes! I'm more pragmatic!" Kim said, getting excited.

"Well, in any case, thank you very much for the glove" Charlene smiled and put it on.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Troika and Eris

Both Troika and Eris entered their room and begun removing their equipment. The couple had just returned from a sparring match that had lasted for hours. The sparring match was supposed to be a demonstration for other guards, although neither Troika nor Eris knew what it was they were supposed to be demonstrating. What they did know was that they were ordered to spar, so spar they did.

The couple served as highly respected knights in the royal guard of King Izor, who ruled over Tibeora from his throne in Feltz. Troika and Eris had both been serving King Izor for their entire adult lives, and longer. It was really the only life that either of them knew – even before enlisting in the royal guard they each went through years of training, and it was during that training when the two met. Since that day they both defended their kingdom together. Learning each other's battle habits and fighting styles all the way down to the slightest detail. Both Troika and Eris were deadly warriors when fighting alone, and unstoppable when fighting together.

Not long after the two had gotten comfortable, someone knocked on the door. A messenger entered shortly after and announced that they had been invited to dine with the King that evening. After doing so the messenger left just as quickly as he came.

"Well," Troika started "I suppose we ought to dress fancy tonight"

"Yeah..." Eris started thinking out loud " I wonder what he wants?"

"Only one way to find out" Troika plopped down on the bed

Eris sat down in a chair and put her hand on her cheek, thinking about what King Izor might want. However, before she could come to any conclusions Troika was telling her to get dressed so that they wouldn't be late.

Troika only had 1 unbuttoned button on his vest by the time another messenger knocked on the door. Eris opened the door, and the couple followed the messenger to the dining room. The dining room was longer than it was wide, built to accommodate a rather large dining table that could host a feast for 12. Despite the size of the table, however, Troika and Eris only found 3 other people at the table. At the end was King Izor himself, to his right was his son: Prince Émile, and across from Émile sat the King's top advisor. Troika and Eris were thrown off by the small party, but the King quickly drew their attention elsewhere.

"Glad you two could make dinner" King Izor gestured to the two unoccupied chairs that were closest to him "take a seat"

Troika sat down next to the King's son and Eris across from him. After a brief introduction of everyone at the table, servants started flooding the dining room, and in a white uniformed flash there appeared wide variety of meats and regional specialties on the table.

The group ate at length; King Izor focused the conversation on matters that Troika and Eris were involved with, he just kept asking them questions about their training. Émile listened to each person speak as he ate, turning his head, and attention, to each new speaker as the conversation went on. The advisor, on the other hand, simply looked down as this food and ate it slowly with no regard to everyone else. Eris immediately took a disliking to him for his behavior.

Eventually the advisor sat back in his chair and folded his hands, when King Izor noticed this he pushed back his empty plate and suddenly changed the subject

"Ah! Well those new toys of yours sure do sound deadly."

Eris shot a quick glance at the advisor

"However…" King Izor's eyes darted over to the advisor as if for some sign of approval "my attention has been drawn to some strange happenings that have been taking place in the small town of Vix." The King sat back in his chair, then went on "I really doubt that it's of any significance, but my advisor here won't stop insisting that someone check it out. The villagers all seem to be on edge, they all say that they feel like they're being haunted. The only reason I want it checked out now is that an entire flock of sheep, along with its Sheppard, has gone missing."

"Hmm…" Troika looked down at his plate in thought "well, it looks to me like you're fighting a mindset more than an enemy. Got any specific actions in mind?"

"Evidently," King Izor looked at the advisor again "there are a few legends about an evil vase that is hidden beneath the village somewhere. I don't really care if it exists, but maybe if you show up, do some digging and then smash any old vase, people will feel at ease. You can get the specifics of the legend when you get to Vix."

"I just have one question," Eris chimed in "why send us?"

"Because you're the best, and people know it! There's no incredible need for you here, I'm sure we'll live for a few days. In any case, you leave tomorrow. On that note, I have places to be…"

King Izor got up and started to leave, then added, "if you like, the Queen is having a ball upstairs, you're welcome to join in on the fun."

Tibeora's affection of the stars and the nighttime sky was not absent at the Queen's ball. When Troika and Eris entered the ballroom they noticed that every woman was wearing a black dress, and every man was dressed up in silver. With long black curtains and lanterns giving off pale blue and silver lights, the decoration was no exception either. Troika, in his red vest, red shirt and red pants, gave Eris' arm a squeeze as they entered the room: he wanted to get out as soon as possible.

Eris, in a black dress, simply led him to the center of the ballroom.

Eris held up her hand "just one dance."

Troika took her hand and put the other on her waist "easy enough for you to say."

Eris waited for a second, then smiled "You don't think it's fitting that you're in red and at the center of the ballroom?"

"Fitting? Sure. But, also: embarrassing. If they think I'm like the sun now, they haven't seen a thing yet."

"Calm down…" Eris caught sight of the advisor standing out on a balcony, watching them.

"Okay," Eris said "maybe don't calm down. Didn't you think that Izor's advisor was a bit-"

"Creepy?"

"Yes, well…"

The couple sinned around with the rest of the crowd, allowing Troika to see out the same window.

"Alright," Troika started "I approach directly, you approach discreetly."

"Easy enough" Eris said before slipping away.

Meanwhile, Troika shuffled his way through the dancing crowd and opened the doorway to get to the balcony. When he got there, the advisor was leaning on the stone edge, overlooking the city. Troika had never gotten a good look at this man. The advisor was a lot slimmer and toned than Troika originally thought, and then Troika realized that the advisor was wearing a large black cloak at the dinner table.

"It's a beautiful city" the advisor started, looking back at Troika

Now, Troika had the chance to notice the advisor's face, he had platinum hair and hazelnut eyes, two features that were quite unique. He had only heard of people with such a color hair before.

"That it is…" Troika said, staying a few feet back.

"Look, I get it," the advisor started "you don't trust me, you think I'm creepy."

"Well," Troika started "people in my….line of work have a different outlook on trust. It's not really something we hand out."

"Especially to people who go to dinner dressed up like a monk assassin" a voice added.

The advisor spun around "Eris?"

Suddenly Eris appeared before both men, darkness lifted off her skin as if she was wrapped in black silk, and someone was unveiling her. Eris took a few steps towards the advisor before he noticed that she was equipped with iron claws. As Eris approached, Troika leaned back onto the stone edge, and rested his arm there as if he was trying to pretend that Eris and the advisor weren't even there.

The advisor started to panic. Before he knew it, his back was up against the railing.

"Just be aware…_advisor_" Eris started "we protect our kingdom from both inside _and _outside threats." And with that she disappeared just as she appeared: in a veil of darkness.

Troika looked at the advisor, who was still in a state of shock.

"You should see her make copies of herself!" Troika laughed, but the advisor simply looked over at him in terror.

"Well, look," Troika offered his hand to shake "we're just doing our job."

"You know," he took Troika's hand "I'm on your side."

"I would hate to think otherwise."

The advisor let out a little cry as he realized that Troika's hand was heating up at an incredibly inhuman rate. Troika held the advisors hand in this state for a few seconds before letting go. The advisor looked at his hand, which was somehow undamaged, then back up at Troika.

"I'll see you in a day or so" Troika said, leaving the advisor alone again.


End file.
